Fulani herdsman in north-central Nigeria in screenshot from video obtained by Morning Star News. (Morning Star News)

ABUJA, Nigeria (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – Residents of a village in Kaduna state have confirmed to news outlet Truth Nigeria that 177 Christians were kidnapped from three churches on Sunday (Jan. 18) following government attempts to impede access and block information about the crime.

Interviews with church officials, survivors and community leaders in Kurmin Wali, Kajuru County revealed to Truth Nigeria that 11 victims later escaped, leaving 166 Christians still in captivity, following Fulani raids of two Cherubim and Seraphim churches and an Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) Sunday school class.

With Nigeria under pressure from the U.S. administration to halt violence against Christians, the Kaduna state government and Nigeria Police Force previously had denied that any kidnappings occurred in Kurmin Wali. Police released a statement on Tuesday (Jan. 20) acknowledging the kidnappings.

Yunana Dauji, secretary of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church in Kurmin Wali, told Truth Nigeria that “Fulani terrorists” attacked two Cherubim and Seraphim congregations simultaneously during Sunday worship at about 9 a.m.

“We were in church worshipping when Fulani terrorists emerged from three directions,” Dauji told Truth Nigeria, operated by U.S. missions group Equipping the Persecuted. “They were armed with AK-47 rifles and surrounded the church. They warned that anyone who tried to run would be shot.”

The assailants identified themselves as Fulani and forced worshippers to go with them to the second Cherubim and Seraphim church, resulting in more than 50 Christians from both congregations being abducted, he said.

The Fulanis raided the ECWA church at about 9 a.m. as a Sunday school was about to begin, ECWA of Kurmin Wali secretary Joseph Bawa told Truth Nigeria, saying, “They burst into the church shouting [jihadist slogan] ‘Allahu Akbar.’ They warned us not to run or we would be killed.”

The assailants combined worshippers from the ECWA church with those of the other churches and marched them into the nearby wilderness, he reportedly said. Told that they were going to Rijana forest, where other kidnapping victims have been held and tortured, some lagged behind when they were ordered to cross a river and fled back to the village after the kidnappers had crossed.

In Chief Superintendent of Police Benjamin Hundeyin’s statement on Tuesday (Jan. 19), he said comments made by the Kaduna state Commissioner of Police were intended to prevent unnecessary panic while facts were being confirmed.

“Those remarks, which have since been widely misinterpreted, were not a denial of the incident but a measured response pending confirmation of details from the field, including the identities and number of those affected,” Hundeyin said. “Subsequent verification from operational units and intelligence sources has confirmed that the incident did occur. The Nigeria Police Force therefore activated coordinated security operations, working closely with other security agencies, with a clear focus on locating and safely rescuing the victims and restoring calm to the area.”

Slain Priest’s Wife, Daughter freed

Also in Kaduna state, the wife and daughter of an Anglican priest who died while held captive by Fulani terrorists were rescued on Thursday (Jan. 15), church leaders said.

Sarah Achi and her daughter were kidnapped alongside the Rev. Edwin Achi on Oct. 28 from their church home in Nissi community, Chikun County.

“Praise God who answers prayers,” reads a press statement from the Anglican Diocese of Kaduna. “We can now confirm that the wife of Late Venerable Achi that was kidnapped and killed last year in October, Mrs. Edwin Achi and daughter, were rescued in the night of Jan. 15.”

Church leaders stated that both the wife and daughter of the priest were rescued and were receiving treatment at a health facility in the city of Kaduna.

Kate Ebere, a member of the church, thanked God for the release of the priest’s wife and daughter.

“Lord we are grateful for their safe return after spending three months in captivity,” Ebere said. “It’s my prayer that God continue to console the Achi’s family, Anglican Diocese of Kaduna, and entire Anglican communion. And, may the soul of Ven. Edwin Achi continue to rest in peace.”

Kaduna Gov. Uba Sani visited Sarah Achi and her daughter on Sunday (Jan. 18) at the Kaduna Military Hospital.

“It was a moment of deep solemnity, and I expressed my heartfelt sympathies as the family confronts grief and the long path to healing,” Sani said in a statement. “I assured Mrs. Achi of the unwavering support of the Kaduna State Government. This includes the provision of a home, full sponsorship of the children’s education, settlement of all medical expenses, and sustained psychosocial care to aid their recovery and reintegration into society.”

On Dec. 25, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered airstrikes on what his administration claimed were Islamic State militants in Sokoto state in northwest Nigeria, on the border of neighboring Niger. Several other militant Islamist groups are reported to be active in the area, including Lakurawa, Al-Qaeda, and Boko Haram. A Pentagon official said that the United States worked with the Nigerian government to carry out the strikes.

Fulani herdsmen and other “bandit” terrorists often allied with them killed more civilians in Nigeria over a four-year period than Islamic extremist groups Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), according Aug. 29, 2024 report by the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) on killings from October 2019 to September 2023. “Armed Fulani Herdsmen” killed 11,948 civilians, while “Other Terrorist Groups,” commonly called “Fulani bandits,” killed 12,039 civilians during the period. By contrast, Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) combined killed just 3,079 civilians.

The Fulani herdsmen form part of the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM), and it is believed that part of the “Other Terrorist Groups” known as “Fulani bandits” are connected to the FEM, according to the report.

“It implies that FEM is a much bigger factor in the Nigerian culture of violence than Boko Haram and ISWAP,” the ORFA report stated.

More Christians were killed in Nigeria than in any other country from Oct. 1, 2024 to Sept. 30, 2025, according to Open Doors’ 2026 World Watch List. Of the 4,849 Christians killed worldwide for their faith during that period, 3,490 – 72 percent – were Nigerians, an increase from 3,100 the prior year. Nigeria ranked No. 7 on the WWL list of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

Numbering in the millions across Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise hundreds of clans of many different lineages who do not hold extremist views, but some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the United Kingdom’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief (APPG) noted in a 2020 report.

“They adopt a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP and demonstrate a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity,” the APPG report states.

Christian leaders in Nigeria have said they believe herdsmen attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt are inspired by their desire to forcefully take over Christians’ lands and impose Islam as desertification has made it difficult for them to sustain their herds.

In the country’s North-Central zone, where Christians are more common than they are in the North-East and North-West, Islamic extremist Fulani militia attack farming communities, killing many hundreds, Christians above all, according to the report. Jihadist groups such as Boko Haram and the splinter group Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), among others, are also active in the country’s northern states, where federal government control is scant and Christians and their communities continue to be the targets of raids, sexual violence, and roadblock killings, according to the report. Abductions for ransom have increased considerably in recent years.

The violence has spread to southern states, and a new jihadist terror group, Lakurawa, has emerged in the northwest, armed with advanced weaponry and a radical Islamist agenda, the WWL noted. Lakurawa is affiliated with the expansionist Al-Qaeda insurgency Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, or JNIM, originating in Mali.

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